Paralympics Path to Pyeongchang

Winter Paralympics, in The Path to Pyeongchang.

From a rather basic beginnings to a new age of technological

innovations. Paralympic sport has come a long way. Record numbers

watch the London and Rio summer games. Another Winter paralympians

are starting to make their mark, too.

2014 was undoubtedly the biggest winter Paralympics to date. From a

British perspective, a at least dazzle, winning six medals. That was

four years after drawing a blank in Vancouver. But will that be good and

of the podium places in Pyeongchang? Jade Hetherington was one Briton's

biggest success stories, securing four of GB's six medals. But she

since retired. Her Paralympic team-mate Kelly Gallagher is still

competing. In 2014 she claimed Britain's first Amber Winter

Paralympic gold and continues to win medals. A heavy crash in training

for this year's World Championships ended the season early. But she is

determined to return stronger than ever. You tend to fall a lot in

skiing, you are pushing yourself to the limit, it was a real accident. I

didn't land very well after coming of age and I could not recover. I

felt there was something wrong. But I couldn't tell what it was. Mike

I'd got to me first and I asked him to take my engagement ring of, so I

have my priorities! I dislocated my elbow and broke some ribs and I hurt

my leg. I had a big bone bruise on my right leg, but I'm on the mend at

least. No one is harder on me than myself. When I came back, I was so

overwhelmed. I don't see it as negative in any way. I think in

Northern Ireland and all of the world we should celebrate people's

endeavours and then trying their best in all walks of life. It's

taken me a bit longer to put my trust and make our... To Bill to

make us a winning team. I could plan an amazing speech, but

I'm not sure I am the best person to planet. I will just love it. I want

to get the skiing out of the road. Realistically, I will probably be

back training on snow in August and then the idea is to be back for the

full season arrays and training and then back to Pyeongchang in the

summertime. Hopefully I will have something to celebrate and done if

not, I am moving onto the next thing. I'm sure sure we'll be back

pushing to the podium and challenging for the medals later

this year. The listenable championships gave to the visually

impaired rising star British skiers to prove their potential at

Pyeongchang. I'm a world champion. Pyeongchang,

2008 team will be my second Paralympics. It will be my first

Paralympics. How important is a guide? I can only see tee-macro

meters. They will be disastrous to ski on my own. About 90 kilometres

an hour. It feels amazing. I have got pretty and he skis two meters in

front of me. He said the snow conditions and the terrain and then

I can indicate whether I can see him and whether we need to speed up or

slow down. This is a special partnership. I'd say we will

probably be friends for life now. It is amazing from a perspective what

she does. She must have a screw loose or something! I'm blind in my

left eye I can only see about 5% vision in the right eye. I merely

focus on the orange jacket and that is pretty much all I can see at that

speed. We get an amazingly well. She is pretty much like a sister.

Without the fighting. When I come into the sport I started working

with Millie so I was able to build the knowledge and experience and

then when I started working with Jenna, we could slot in nicely. It's

a huge responsibility. Until you do it, you don't realise what the rate

on your shoulders is. You are in charge of somebody's life in a trust

you completely. It's quite restricting, being visually impaired

off the piece. But on the skis, the speed I can go the freedom I have, I

will never be able to drive a car, but I can ski faster than some

people can drive. You have internal rivalries. You accomplish one

another. It is great having competition. She is quite fearless

and a good technical skier. She just has strength behind her. She is a

fantastic spear. She won the gold in 2014. We are all great competition.

Despite Kelly Gallagher's absence, these two helped push each other to

the podium positions. They power to an impressive giant slalom bronze,

whilst Millie and Brett would make history. They claim Britain's

first-ever World Championship gold medal in this blog before adding

three further silver medals to their horse. I just come back from an

illness, so come into this World Championship, I didn't have any

expectations. So to win a gold, it was incredible. Can you enjoy

watching her until she is finished? No. As long as she comes over that

reach and when she comes to the finish line, than I can relax a

little. My mother has been there from the start, always fighting my

corner. For her to be here is phenomenal. The support incredible.

-- be support is incredible. Can you describe how you are feeling

now? I'm very proud. They have worked so hard for this. I am really

pleased. It is a good preparation for next year. This code is

fantastic. We couldn't have thought of anything better. But the end goal

is South Korea. We train every day with a goal of winning a gold. We go

to the gym at 6am and then school and then back to the gym. It is

tougher. Winning or getting any type of medal in the Paralympics is one

of my biggest dreams. It will be absolutely amazing for us together

to be on the podium in Pyeongchang. Winning a medal with your best

friend would be life changing. From the super speedy skiers to slightly,

colours. GB have excelled in it in Olympics and the Paralympics are

looking to follow suit. Whilst they battled to bronze in Sochi three

years ago. They generate Alain Jufer could best be described as a

roller-coaster. -- their journey to Pyeongchang could best be described

as a roller-coaster. It may appear quite a simple sport, but unlike in

the Olympic version, which as sweepers, in the Paralympics, if an

Offaly makes a mistake, there is no want to brush up after them. -- if

an Offaly makes a mistake. Team GB have been successful though.

Relegation 2015 Sauber ?1.1 million of UK sport funding axed. Sochi was

one of the highlights of my career. The funding was fantastic to have

and it allowed me to give up my job as a teacher and training full-time

as an athlete. So that was a major blow to take the funding away. There

was a lot at stake. We decided to cut our squad so it cut its from 12

to seven at that point. They responded well. They buckled down.

They have thrown everything at the challenge of getting back the World

Championships and qualifying for the Paralympics. Sport Scotland stepped

in with some money and against all the odds, they defied expectations

to secure their place of the 2080 Winter Paralympics late last year.

This man is one of the new members of the squad keen to show what he

can do on the sport's bigger stage after an unlikely introduction to

curling. I was in a bubbling dominoes in a wheelchair and the

coach asked me if I'd ever tried wheelchair curling and I said, no. I

didn't know it existed. But I loved it. I played rugby growing up and

being in a wheelchair, I missed that. Dominoes wasn't really

fulfilling it. Angie Malone has competed in all three Paralympics in

the sport's debut. After winning bronze and silver, only one colour

will do in Pyeongchang. We had such an exciting time in Sochi, coming

back with a bronze. We want to go out to Pyeongchang let the rest of

the world know what a great team we are. We are confident belief we can

be on the podium. So we are going for the big medal. Still to come...

We meet two of GB's leading prospects in one of the game's most

exciting new sports, snowboarding. British troops injured in active

service tell us about their bid to end GB's 20 years of absence from

Nordic skiing. And Germany's five-time Olympic champion gives us

a guide to skiing head of her bid to make more history. The first to the

hosts of the last games, Russia. Despite holding what was arguably

the greatest Winter Paralympics of all time, the country's reputation

has nosedived recently. Following the McLaren report commissioned by

the world anti-doping agency, Russia was banned from some sports at the

2016 Olympics. The International Paralympic committee took an even

bolder stance, excluding gold Russian athletes from the real

Paralympics. The report alleged their country had operated a

state-sponsored doping programme. Further revelations have since been

revealed, claiming that over thousand Russian athletes they have

benefited from cheating in events across London 2012 and the Sochi

2014 games. Russia remains unable to compete in five of the six Winter

Paralympic sports. The question is whether they'll be allowed back in

full for the Pyeongchang games. I asked their president. There has to

be a transformation in the manner in which the nation looks at our sport.

We have laid a certain conditions and there's a lot of activity and

energy being put into getting things right and back to normality, if I

can put it that way. Sochi was a bigger games and it is somewhat

tarnished because of what has come up with the McLaren report. I can

understand that. We got this terrible news and we knew nothing of

it. It was all new to us. I still have fond memories of Sochi, but

most certainly what has happened has tarnished it. How confident are you

Russia will be there in Pyeongchang? I'm not looking for someone to get

down on their knees and say sorry, I think it's been most people accept

occurred. Letters fix it and move on. Russia is a great sporting

nation. They are missed in the sporting sense of honour but we

can't have nations competing when their performances have been

tarnished by what has gone on. Letters wipe the slate clean if we

can and ensure it never happens again. Evolving sports and adding

new event is vital to the growth of the games and freestyle snowboarding

has been huge for the Olympics. For the Paralympics, snowboarding came

before Sochi, but there were no GB competitors. But we now possess some

of the best in the world. Then more won a world silver and bronze in

2015 and finished third at this year's competition. His team mate

had to be a little more patient, but has now made his breakthrough with

World Championship and World Cup silver medals in the last two

months. But their journey toward the snowboarding summit has been far

from smooth. I used to be in the Army. I was deployed to Afghanistan

at age 18. I had my leg smashed apart. They spent 18 months

operating on it and it did not work. I was not my motorcycle a decade

ago. I bounced down the road and lost the use of my arm. They said in

the end, you can deal with it or you can get rid of it and at that point,

I was tired of operations, so I decided to have it off below the

knee. And now I've never looked back. It has completely changed my

life. I've always been quite competitive and I love getting

better at things, so for me it was OK, I've lost my leg, now I've got

to learn to walk and as soon as I've done that I will do something else.

Snowboarding it progressing to the crazy rate. Sochi was a big one.

They had above is raising and below knees. Off the back of that, they've

now got three categories. We've got upper limb. I am in the upper limb

category, so anyone with an issue upwards from the waste will be

classed enough. I do have my armour, the reason why it is in this sling

is because it keeps it from moving around and putting me off balance.

Davitt in the Paralympics is abused. Snowboarding is about being stylish

and we'll do things to keep our own style. New Riders pop up everywhere.

There were lots of people made aware of snowboarding from the games. It

is mind blowing. We can ride the same course as everyone else. Can

you sum up what a gold would mean to you? I can -- I think you can see

why the look on my face it would mean the world to me. I get to

represent my country and to have a gold medal would sum up my

snowboarding career. I've got a lot of pressure on us now. There's more

people on the teams and it all helps. If we can get medals, it will

be massive and open up so many more ways and getting more new people

involved. The bigger and better against, the fun it becomes. The

Pyeongchang Paralympics will just be about the British athletes. There

are colours International stores looking to challenge for multiple

and Germany's athletes are among them. I am from Germany and I am a

Paralympic champion. I love skiing the Gazette is fast and when I get

out I feel a lot of the journalling. When you ski, you have to push your

trip into the snow and you can see how it goes into the snow and you

can make your turn. The sport has developed a lot. The first games

were in Vancouver and for me, it was a great event. But when I compare it

to Sochi, it was bigger. You had a lot more TV stations and lot more

crowds. When the snow is a little bumpy,

Sochi was magnificent. I came there and knew it was possible for me to

win. But I had a lot of pressure. I was so happy when I won the first

gold medal and I said, now I have eight kilos left. The hardest thing

is to have the balance. We have crutches in both hands, so I can

stabilise myself. These would not be good for skiing, so I can push in. I

have another little ski and that makes it better. Pyeongchang is

important to me and I look forward to it. There is now even more

pressure for me. It is very difficult, but on the other hand, I

want to be in this position and have the pleasure and have this

achievement. It feels very cool and things that happened in Sochi, it's

something I want to do again. She has every chance. She won three gold

medals earlier this year, although her arch rival took the other two,

their battle for Paralympic honours could be one of the highlights of

the 2018 games. Another of the ones to watch includes this snowboarder

from the Netherlands when a Paralympic gold medal. Away from the

slopes, one of the most exciting sports to look out for his Paradise

hockey. Previously known as sledge hockey. There will be no British

team because they failed to qualify. But the USA will be those to beat

having won three of the last four Paralympic games. And finally Nordic

skiing. This happily took silver and bronze

in Sochi but is expected to challenge for gold next year. On the

mend's side, Canada will be looking to add to their Paralympic titles.

But has not had a Nordic skiers competing since 1998 in Japan. But a

group of injured British troops are hoping to end that. It is a hard

sport. Everything is full and flat out. If you don't do the training,

you get found out very quickly. You are maxed out all the time. Your

lungs are on fire. In their words, is a sport that separates the men

are from the boys. Overcoming adversity is nothing new to these

two men who were both injured whilst on patrol in Afghanistan in 2011. I

stepped on an improvised explosive device planted in the ground. We did

that while we were carrying out such operations. In the blast, I lost

both my legs above the knee. I managed to treat myself at the

beginning, I was awake to be made to sleep and then I awoke in camp

Bastian awoke about the flight home. So I can picture every stage of it.

It was a tough time. You go from being a super Abel and super strong

and capable soldier and then all of a sudden you're in bed for four mums

having to be fed and having people did the most basic tasks for you. It

was very tough mentally to deal with that. Once you get injured, you're

full of tumblers and starts button a bit of weight I do feel pretty

rubbish. And then, things start to change. In my recovery I was

introduced to those opportunities -- various opportunities. Sport became

the catalyst for rediscovering what I could do instead of worrying about

how I couldn't get up and down stairs. Now I could go down the ski

slope. This man was part of the 1998 team, the last British athletes to

compete in Nordic skiing events at the Paralympics. He was going to

coach the new recruits, but GB selectors had other ideas. They saw

me skiing as said, no you should be giving us advice, you should try for

it again and that is why I have ended up here. It really is an

honour and to compete for the country. I have a token medal for

being at the 1998 Paralympics, but what I want to do is to get a

bronze, silver or main aim. The ultimate goal is Pyeongchang. I've

not come here for a laugh. It is a chance to redefine yourself.

It is a difficult ball but very rewarding. I would love to be part

of a legacy and move it on for Great Britain. With a year to go until the

Winter Paralympics it is clear Britain are the potential to win any

medals in Pyeongchang. And GB's best ever haul was ten Baqubah 1984 games

and to get anywhere close to that would be an incredible achievement

given the strength of international competition compared to them. But

achieving a record total is far from impossible and we will keep you

up-to-date with all the latest over the next 12 months as the athletes

continue on their path to Pyeongchang.